NCTA Backs House Cybersecurity Bills

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association joined with US Telecom and CTIA: The Wireless Association to push for cybersecurity legislation that emphasizes info sharing, liability protections for industry, and more R&D over government-enforced security guidelines.

The same groups got together last week to outline their basic cybersecurity principles, which generally dovetail with Republican-backed House bills that emphasize self-regulation. In a letter to House leaders in advance of scheduled House floor votes later this week on cybersecurity legislation, NCTA and company again asked Congress to pass H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), adding their support for three other related bills -- H.R. 3834, Advancing America's Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act; H.R. 2096, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2011; and H.R. 4257, the Federal Information Security Amendments Act. Together, the cable and phone trade associations argue the bills will provide a "flexible and adaptable" cybersecurity policy that relies on industry best practices rather than prescriptive government rules they say will be outdated before they can be enforced.